John Rhys-Davies

John Rhys-Davies spent up to 5 hours a day putting on makeup for the role of Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was discovered early on that he was allergic to the prosthetics, so he could only put them on and work about every third day. The first week, it burned off the skin under his eyes. After filming was completed he was given the appliance used and told to do what he wanted with it. One of the makeup artists claimed they had never seen him move so fast as he threw it into a nearby fire.

His son urged him to accept the role in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring .

Keeps busy by developing a new hobby with each movie.

Lost the end tip of his left hand middle finger to the knuckle while changing a van engine. During filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , he was fitted with a gel tip for the finger. Rhys-Davies and the crew played a prank on director Peter Jackson by slicing the gel tip nearly in half and inserting prop blood inside. Rhys-Davies approached Jackson to tell him he was hurt and pulled open the tip, letting the blood flow out.

Ironically, he is actually taller than The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring co-stars Viggo Mortensen , Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen , yet he plays the Dwarf.

According to an article in the Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), December 14, 2003, the actors who played the members of the Fellowship of the Ring got a tattoo as a memento of their shared experiences, except for Rhys-Davies, who sent his stunt double instead. According to the BellaOnline body art website, the double was martial artist Brett Beattie , who in fact spent more film hours performing as Gimli the Dwarf.

Two of his television movies have been followed up with similarly themed theatrical films starring Eric Bana. He played "The Kingpin" in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk ; the film Hulk starred Bana. He played "King Priam" in "Helen of Troy" ; Eric Bana played "Hector" in Troy .

Before getting the role of Gimli, he auditioned for the role of Denethor. Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, auditioned for the role of Denethors other son, Faramir. In Helen of Troy, Rhys-Davies played Priam, and in Troy , Bloom played Paris, Priams younger son.

April 2004 - Appeared as the special Lord of the Rings guest at the Armageddon Sci-Fi and Comics Convention in Auckland, New Zealand.

September 2004 - Attended the Armaggeddon Pulp Culture Expo Convention in Wellington, New Zealand as a Lord of the Rings guest

Every film he has made with Kiran Shah has been nominated for Best Picture: Raiders of the Lost Ark , The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King .

Is one of four "Lord of the Rings" stars to star, pre-"Rings," with Harrison Ford. He starred with Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , and Ford starred with Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) in Witness , with Sean Bean (Boromir) in Patriot Games , and with Miranda Otto (Eowyn) in What Lies Beneath .

Attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), London, England, and is an Associate Member.

Although a double needed to be used to make Rhys-Davies look much smaller than his shorter co-stars Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom , his height was exactly the right proportions to those of his hobbit co-stars and no body doubles were used in their shots together. The hobbits are supposed to average about 3 6" (2 feet shorter than the actors who played them) and Gimli, at just over 4 feet tall, is about 2 feet shorter than the real Rhys-Davies.

Graduated from the University of East Anglia.

Played the character of Malone in the TV Series "The Untouchables" . The character was played by Sean Connery in the movie version The Untouchables . Both actors also played Richard the Lionheart, King of England, in separate versions of Robin Hood: Rhys-Davis in TVs "Robin of Sherwood" and Connery (albeit uncredited) in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves . Connery and Rhys-Davies appeared together in between these projects in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade .

Parents: Rhys Davies (a mechanical engineer) and Mary Margaretta Phyllis Jones (a nurse).

Children: Tom, Ben.

While working on the Lord of the Rings films, he lost seventy pounds from all the running around the part involved. When he went back to New Zealand for re-shoots, the makeup artists had to alter his Gimli makeup to better fit his slimmed-down facial features.

Has lived with Lisa Manning since 2004. They have a daughter, Maia. Although he separated from his wife Susie in the early 1980s, he has not divorced her and has no plans to. She was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 1995 and he remains close to her.

A supporter of the British Conservative Party, Rhys-Davies was a radical leftist in the 60s, who tried to heckle a young Tory MP. But the parliamentarian "shot down the first two hecklers in such brilliant fashion that I decided I ought for once to shut up and listen". The MP was Margaret Thatcher.

Is the only actor to star in the James Bond, Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings franchises.

Bears a resemblance to Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti. This has been poked fun at in several of his projects including The Great White Hype and Sliders.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark he sings several lines from Gilbert & Sullivans "HMS Pinafore". The same song was sung by Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Insurrection . Both men have appeared together in the TV series "I, Claudius" ; they have also both featured in the Star Trek and Dune universe: Stewart in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Dune ; Rhys-Davies in "Star Trek: Voyager" and Dune 2000 .

(May 2005) Attending Collectormania 7 at Milton Keynes.

(May 2005) Attended The Scandinavian Sci-Fi, Game & Film Convention in Malm, Sweden (7-8 May).

(March 2004) Attended The Scandinavian Sci-Fi, Game & Film Convention in Gteborg, Sweden (March 13-14).

As of 2014, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Raiders of the Lost Ark , The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King , with the latter winning in the category.

Owns property in New Zealand and lives there when not on location.

Every time I meet little boys and girls I do get asked about Sallah.

Villians are a lot of fun. My villains have a lot of tongue-in-cheek.

Tolkien knew that civilization is worth fighting for. There are times,when a generation is challenged and must fight to defend their,civilization from annihilation.

Fundamental Islamism is a particularly brutish and unpleasant form of,fascism.

You have a much longer career as a character actor.

I cannot tell you how many people I have met that have said "Oh, by the,way, I studied archaeology at University" or "I became an archaeologist,largely because of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) . " And I still,meet youngsters who are going up to read archaeology and history at,University because of Raiders.